Napoleon Hill

He goes on to say that if you asked 100 people this question, 98% will say something like, “I’d like to make a good living and become as successful as I can.”

He believes that while this sounds good on the surface, if you dig a little deeper, you will find a drifter who will never get anything out of life except the leftovers of truly successful people – Those who have a definite purpose and a plan for attaining it.

To be successful, you have to decide exactly what your goal is and lay out the steps by which you intend to reach it.

Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is attributed by some to be the book that created more millionaires than any other book. While his principles may work if you want to be a millionaire, it also works for the achievement of anything in life. At the core of his principles, is the fact that we are the master of our own destiny, the captain of our ship.

In the movie ‘Invictus‘, Nelson Mandela, the great South African leader and visionary, is portrayed as living by the following mantra:
 ’…I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul…”

This quote comes from the poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley, who himself survived tuberculosis of the bone at the age of twelve and had to have a leg amputated when he was 25. In the 1800’s, this was something that many people didn’t survive, but he went on to lead an active life until he died.

It is stated that Nelson Mandela had this poem written on a scrap of paper in his prison cell, while he was incarcerated. Imagine being imprisoned for 27 years because of your principles and still holding on to the belief that you are the captain of your soul!

If you continued with the comparison of human beings to ships, the following analogy may be useful:

Picture a ship without a rudder, drifting wherever the tide may take it. What chance has that ship got in drifting into a rich and prosperous port? If, on the other hand, you were on a ship with a captain on board, went up to him and asked him where he was going, he will be able to answer you in one sentence.

I have in a few articles before, mentioned how valuable Mind Maps can be in charting your course. You could use Mind Maps to firstly build your vision, and then set SMART Goals to achieve them.

Start by visualizing small successes and then move on to bigger and bigger ones. You don’t have to define success in money terms, like Napoleon Hill does, but do go ahead and define what success means to you.

To Nelson Mandela, it meant the freedom of a nation!

In many people the desire for wealth is just not great enough, but they may want spiritual success, or overcome some bad childhood experiences. Whatever your idea of success is, build your vision for the future, set those goals, put your plan in place, and…

I’ve had a few comments about the last few articles being a bit too academic. Words like taxonomy, cognitive, psychomotor, etc. don’t roll easily off the tongue.

I’ve tried to make it as simple as possible and to paraphrase the great Einstein, ‘I’ve tried to make it simple enough, but not too simple‘.

I will nevertheless publish an article summarising all of this next week in one simple to read article. I am putting together a Mind Map of the article at the moment and hope that all the principles of the three domains can be reflected clearly in that article. I have not written the article yet and may be setting myself up for failure, but let’s wait until it’s published…

The Psychomotor Domain explained

The Psychomotor Domain mainly covers the acquiring of a physical skill like manipulating a tool or instrument, but it can be applied to the learning of any skill, including art, music, sport and Mind Mapping.

Bloom did not develop categories in this Domain, as he did in the Associative and Cognitive Domains.

Other academics did however do that.

Current Theories

The theories below are academic studies of the Pshychomotor Domain. Each of them are divided into categories like Bloom did with the Associative Domain and the Cognitive Domain. The categories and the website link below are included in case you want to explore the subject further.

Simpson (1972)

• Perception
• Set
• Guided Response
• Mechanism
• Complex Overt Response
• Adaptation
• Origination

Dave (1970)

• Imitation
• Manipulation
• Precision
• Articulation
• Naturalization

Harrow (1972)

• Reflex movements
• Basic fundamental movement
• Perceptual
• Physical activities
• Skilled movements
• Non-discursive communication

These theories are nicely summarized on this website: Psychomotor Taxonomy Summary.

After reading many of the theories, I felt that there had to be simpler, practical approach to the subject. Once again, Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Maps, came to my rescue. After many hours researching this topic and reading through reams of theories, I’ve decided to use three main sources for this article. The first one is the Mind Map Book of Tony Buzan and the second one is Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.

The third one is my understanding based on personal research and use of the theory.

Understanding the Psychomotor Domain using the three A’s

In the Mind Map book, Tony Buzan describes how ancient Eastern masters developed students. They received only three basic instructions: ‘obey’, ‘cooperate’ and ‘diverge’.

The student started with complete submission to the will of the master and obeyed all instructions without questioning. The aim was to imitate the master as accurately as possible, only asking for clarification where necessary.

This was followed by cooperation whereby the student could consolidate and integrate the information by asking appropriate questions. The student would also assist the master in analysis and creation.

Finally, the student will diverge after learning everything the master could teach. The student will then honour the master by continuing the traditional of further development, often leading to new ways of doing things.

When it comes to Mind Mapping, Tony Buzan recommends that you follow the three A’s:

• Accept
• Apply
• Adapt

Accept
Set aside any preconceptions you may have about your mental limitations. Follow the Mind Mapping laws exactly. Imitate the models given as precisely as you can. You can learn to Mind Map by example by looking at the Mind Maps of others. We provide lots of free examples on UsingMindMaps.com.

Apply
After basic Mind Mapping training, Tony Buzan recommends that you do at least 100 Mind Maps based on what you have learned. We recommend that you follow the Mind Map Principles and the Seven Steps in creating a Mind Map. You may even want to put this together in a holistic Learning Management Program.

In the process of doing this, you will start developing your own Mind Mapping style. By experimenting with Mind Maps in your Personal life, at work, in business, or in your learning, you will start realising what works well for you and what doesn’t.

Adapt
After doing 100 pure Mind Maps, you can start experimenting with ways of adapting your Mind Maps. Feel free to experiment, but keep the basic principles in mind. If you break any of the principles, at least know the reasons why. In that way you can rest assured that you will be able to defend your position and use it with confidence.

We are very keen to hear about your Mind Mapping experiences. Let us know your experiences by commenting on our blog or submitting your story on our Website. We will publish your story and give you recognition for the story!

Practice makes perfect

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book ‘Outliers’, tells us of a case study involving violinists. Violinists were evaluated at various stages of their life. All of them were recognised as having above average talent at age five. Yet, by the time they reached twenty, it was very evident who was going on to play professionally and who was just going to do it as a hobby, or teach at a government school.

The difference, he noted, was the amount of hours they spent single mindedly trying to improve their playing. By the time they reached 20, the top performers had put in over 10,000 hours of practice, while the poorer performers only put in about 4,000 hours.

There was very little that differentiated the top from the bottom performers. The main differentiator was the amount of time they spent practising!

You can also become a good Mind Mapper if you start Mind Mapping today and do the recommended 100 Mind Maps. You can also grow your Mind Mapping Skills by looking at good examples, but nothing beats doing it yourself.

Remember that the principle applies to learning any skill. Set aside time on a daily basis to practice the skill that you want to learn. An hour a day for thirty days is better than 5 hours once a week when learning a skill.

Conclusion

While there are many complex academic theories on the Psychomotor Domain, I am suggesting a simple approach of Accept, Apply and Adapt to increase your skills in any field. First find a good mentor, accept what they are saying and then apply it for a sufficiently long period of time.

Only once you’ve done this, should you adapt the principles to suit your needs.

We provide you the Mind Map mentorship you need on UsingMindMaps.com. The site is still young and growing. So bookmark it, subscribe to our RSS feed, or sign up for our monthly newsletter to grow your Mind Mapping skills. We’ll even throw in some free offers!

Nothing is further from the truth!

When you look at the life of Tony Buzan, the inventor of the Mind Map, you will quickly see that the man is a genius. And that was BEFORE he even invented Mind Mapping.

He was the editor of the International journal of MENSA from 1968-1971. In case you don’t know it, MENSA is the ‘Hight IQ Society’.

From the Mensa website:

‘…Membership of Mensa is open to persons who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised…’

He has also authored, or co-authored, more than 95 books on the brain.

He has founded the Mind Sports Olympiad, the ‘brain Olympics’.

He is a consultant to multinational companies, academic institutions and governments.

Looking at his credentials inspired me to get involved in Mind Mapping. It naturally inspired and motivated me to not only use it everywhere in my daily life, it also inspired me to talk and write about Mind Mapping.

Yet I find it to be doing the exact opposite for many. His genius is a ‘put off’ for people, who see themselves as ordinary people, and who may even view themselves as underachievers.

It is in response to this that I started to write and speak about Mind Mapping.

I left high school with a pretty average result. I am not a member of Mensa. I do not consult to international multinationals, academic institutions, or governments, (yet).

Yet, I believe that Mind Mapping has helped me become successful and reach my full potential.

It has helped me to get a Postgraduate Education, plan and set up websites, write about Mind Maps, learning and the brain, teach using Mind Maps, Project Manage, speak in forums, design systems, manage people, solve problems and much more…

I’ve started another website, UsingMindMaps.com, which I envisage to grow into an authoritative Mind Mapping resource that is easy to navigate and understand. You can even leave your own experiences of Mind Mapping on the website. Go ahead, let the world know of your experiences with Mind Maps. Don’t be afraid of whether you can write well or not. We will even edit your story, while ensuring that you still get the credit and that it remains your idea.

The crazy thing about all of this, is that my love for Mind Mapping soon became my favourite hobby. I can even go a step further, and state that my hobby is the wonderful brain.

I started writing this article at 5:30 am. on a Saturday morning. (Perhaps I’ve become a bit obsessive!)

I could not do this, if Mind Mapping did not give me an abundance of benefits, untold competitive advantages and lots of pleasure.

There seems to be a need for an ‘ordinary’ person like myself promoting Mind Mapping. There are many geniuses out there promoting Mind Mapping. I am not one of them, yet I hope you can learn as much (or maybe more) from me, as you can from them.

You too can benefit from Mind Mapping, whether you are an overachiever, an underachiever or just an average achiever.

Mind Maps will help you achieve your full potential, because you will be using the full cortical skills of your brain. By combining both your linear, logical brain and your creative, artistic brain, you will soon start to perform on the same level as many geniuses.

Your achievements could quite easily match those with High IQ’s.

In other words, the genius can be awakened in you.

If you haven’t used Mind Mapping before, I suggest you explore the articles on UsingMindMaps.com where can get access to lots of free articles, enrol for the newsletter, get access to some free training and even publish your own story on using Mind Maps in your daily life.

Today, I would like to position the reason for setting up UsingMindMaps.com.

MindMapTutor.com is a blog, which is the final resting ground of my weekly articles. My steadily growing subscriber base can go to MindMapTutor.com for archives of older postings.

While this has served me, and my subscriber base, very well, it is not the easiest site to navigate. The current highlights and featured articles are easy to get to, but older articles were not very easy to access.

I get numerous emails and questions about topics that I’ve already written about. I often point people to the article on MindMapTutor.com and also inform them that the site has a very good search function. While this helps you after the fact, the site does not allow you to find articles on the topic you want easily in the first place.

I therefore decided to set up a website that makes it simple, easy and fast to get to the relevant topics. The site UsingMindMaps.com will cover the various uses of Mind Maps in your daily life, each with its own easy to find category. The site has a simple menu structure, with menu items on the left hand side. The articles are listed right there, under the categories, for ease of access.

The articles have also been structured to lead you through the topic at hand and also link you to overlapping topics in a natural, flowing way.

The site’s theme is Using Mind Maps, which structures information into the various uses and applications of Mind Maps in your daily life.

While Mind Maps started out as a memory tool, its natural use of both the structured and creative components of the brain gave rise to its application in many walks of life. UsingMindMaps.com will cover each of these aspects.

UsingMindMaps.com is in its early stages, but from the initial feedback, it’s looking good. People tend to spend more time on the site, as they can easily follow the topics of their choice.

Please have a look at UsingMindMaps.com and use the Contact Form to give feedback. Tell us what you would like to see.

We even have a place for you to tell us your stories of Using Mind Maps in your daily life. If you have a good story to tell let us know and we will publish it. You too could have your say!

UsingMindMaps.com has been more work than I initially thought it would be, but I believe it will add even more value to your life than MindMapTutor.com has.

Look out for some freebies coming your way as part of the launch. We are putting together a monthly newsletter, a free email course, ebook downloads and online training.

You will get an email sometime this week about the newsletter and the free stuff.

I look forward to your responses and your stories…

Arie de Geus

‘Your ability to learn faster than your competitor may be your only sustainable competitive advantage’, is a quote by Arie de Geus that I often use because of the great message it carries.

Arie de Geus gets my admiration because he is not a pure academic only. He started out in ‘the real world’ and progressed to management in Royal Dutch Shell, retiring after working there for 38 years.

He was largely responsible for developing the concept of the learning organisation. His reputation as an academic came after his publication ‘Planning as learning’ in the Harvard Business Review in 1988.

This is rather different to the many management consultants and academics and is best explained by an extract from Arie de Geus’ Website:

“…Business books fall into two main categories. By far the largest is written by academics and consultants, people who tend to be long on theory but short on real-world management experience. Less frequent are memoirs and “how to” guides written by career managers, in which anecdote too often substitutes for insight. There are, however, notable exceptions to the memoir rule. Books such as Alfred Sloan’s My Years at General Motors (1963) and The Living Company (1997) by Arie de Geus, former Shell manager, demonstrate that some multi-talented managers can cross the divide…”

My advice

While I don’t profess to be an Arie de Geus, my articles and advice are largely based on my own experience with Mind Maps and Mind Mapping in the business world, as well as in my studies. The MindMapTutor concept came into being with a collaboration with my wife. She was (and according to her, still is) a teacher. This collaboration enables both a practical, pragmatic approach as well as a strong academic base.

I work in the Information Technology sector and worked for many years as a contractor/consultant, being paid purely for my knowledge and skills in a fast changing career. A career, which needs constant, hard work to keep up to date and even harder work to stay ahead of the pack.

Even though I am a Senior Manager today, I still need to stay up to date with the latest thinking and happenings to ensure that I am constantly implementing world class solutions that deliver a competitive advantage.

Subscribing to the principles of Lifelong Learning is therefore of the utmost importance. If you want to be more successful in your field, starting with a lifelong learning mindset will already give you an advantage, as most people are complacent and coast along.

Leonardo da Vinci

Mind Maps are the ideal vehicle to manage your lifelong learning. It will not only enable you to learn faster, but also provide a link network in your brain that ensures that you start seeing the relationship between various disciplines. This is exactly how the great geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci thought. Da Vinci was a multi-disciplined individual and probably one of the greatest minds that ever lived.

If you have a look at some of his notes, you will see that he used a non-linear form of note taking that included words, images and symbols.

While his notes involved both the logical left brain and the creative right brain, they were not Mind Maps.

The Mind Map

The Mind Map is simply a more organised form of non linear note taking that involves the whole brain.

It is for this reason that I use Mind Maps in my everyday life. I use it for everything from brainstorming to running meetings, from project management to speeches.

I use Mind Maps in both my personal, academic and work life and have been doing this for nearly two decades.

Learning with Mind Maps

In the next few articles, I will be covering the use of Mind Maps in the learning process. This will give you an insight into learning faster than your competitors. Armed with this skill, you will be able to sustain a competitive advantage.

My use of Mind Maps may not always meet the Mind Map Principles of Tony Buzan, but neither did Leonardo da Vinci’s notes.

I look forward to sharing my knowledge of how I use Mind Maps to learn faster and maintain my competitive advantage in the next few articles.

Please feel free to add your comments, if you have similar experiences learning with Mind Maps. And please pass this on, if you feel somebody can benefit by being able to learn faster and easier.

Philosophical

Since November last year, my articles focused quite a bit on my philosophy of success. Philosophical discussions are often controversial and spark lots of debate, but it’s something I quite like.

You should perhaps also develop your ‘own philosophy of life’. This will ensure that there is always a higher purpose for everything that you do.

Getting Practical

During the first few articles of this year, it started to get more practical, where you actually had to define what it is you wanted to achieve and by when.

Last week’s article on Goal Setting gave a practical method for setting the goals based on the roles and goals article of the previous week.

This week I would like to focus on using Mind Maps to monitor and reach your milestones.

What is a Milestone?

Before, we go any further, let’s look at what a milestone means and how it is used in this context.

The free online dictionary defines a milestone as follows:

1. A stone marker set up on a roadside to indicate the distance in miles from a given point.
2. An important event, as in a person’s career, the history of a nation, or the advancement of knowledge in a field; a turning point.

We use the concept loosely to indicate a marker or a goal you want to achieve sometime in the future.

By having small wins along the way, you are able to achieve the big wins. The article on SMART goals goes into more detail about this.

On your Goals Mind Map, you will probably have the final outcome of what you would like to achieve. You now need to Mind Map smaller victories on the way to achieving the big goal.

By having smaller successes, you will remain positive and believe that you are on track in achieving the big goal.

How to map your milestones

Many people use a giant year planner to do this. Others use a diary. I suggest you use a Mind Map. A single page Mind Map can give you a high level view of your goals in one glance. You can review whether you are on track or not within a few minutes.

I suggest you structure the Mind Map in the following way:

• Have a nice image in the centre of the Mind Map. Use something that represents success, or winning.
• Draw four branches coming out of this central image, one for each quarter.
• Divide each quarter into months.
• Put the details of your goals into the relevant month.

You now have a framework to map out the whole year’s goals.

Each month should have what you want to achieve and by when. Looking at your Mind Map at any point in time will give you a quick overview of whether you are on track or not.

By setting the milestones of what you want to achieve in the future, you create a yardstick by which to measure yourself. As the old management cliché goes: What you can’t measure, you can’t manage.

What happens when you miss a milestone?

Firstly, don’t worry about it. If you used the Mind Map properly, you would have seen it coming. Even if you didn’t use the Mind Map properly, you can simply cross off the milestone and set it for some time in the future. You will also quickly be able to see the impact on future milestones that may be dependent on the milestone that you’ve missed. Simply move them to the appropriate month.

You can also write down the reason for missing the milestone. Be honest, even if it was due to negligence or ‘laziness’. This will give you a good picture of your behaviour. Only you can decide whether you want to change your behaviour or not.

Messy Mind Maps

Some people feel that this gets quite messy. If you used a big enough page, it is normally okay to look messy, as the benefits of having a full history, with reasons, on one page outweigh the negatives of being too messy.

If you think it is too messy, you can simply redraw your Mind Map monthly, or even quarterly. The old Mind Maps can then be filed and serve as your history.

Another good way to overcome this, is to use Mind Map Software. Mind Map software gives you all sorts of freedom to manage your Mind Maps in the way you want to, as they are so easy to edit.

I’ve attached a PDF Mind Map Template, with the quarters and months already filled in, for you to download and print. If it gets too messy, you can simply print a new one.

Go ahead, set those milestones now and get on the road to success.

Remember, you can comment on any of the articles on MindMapTutor.com to communicate your opinions to the world.

Click here to download Mind Map PDF Template.

Even though I gave him my reasons for not following the Mind Map rules strictly, I welcome his passion and input around puristic Mind Maps as advocated by Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Maps. Tim is a certified Buzan instructor and obviously knows his subject very well. I agree with him that a Mind Map with one Key Word per line is more ‘open’, thus creating more connections for the user of the Mind Map. I use single words per line in my personal Mind Maps as much as possible.

I still feel that if I use a Mind Map for accurately recording things such as minutes, indexes, content pages, etc. without any interpretation, I often need to add a few more words per line, especially if I have limited space, as in my blog.

This is not an encouragement for you to do the same. Stick to the laws and only break them if you have a valid reason. It is still your choice. I’ve written an article previously on the Mind Map Principles. Have a look at the principles, if you don’t know them, or have forgotten them. Knowing the Mind Mapping Principles can make all the difference between a good Mind Map and a Mind Map that is not really a Mind Map. The latter leads to chaos and confusion, instead of clarity.

It is also important to note that MindMapTutor is here to tutor you along a path of lifelong learning and growth. Some of the tools we promote, especially the free ones, don’t meet the standards set by Tony Buzan, but it is sometimes the best tool you’ve got.

Even if my writing helps one person, it is one more person that will have a more fulfilling life. It is that thought that keeps me going.

This reminds me of a story that goes something like this:

Two people were walking on a beach. They came across a pile of starfish washed up on the shore. One of them started to throw them back into the sea. The other one commented that there’s no use throwing them back, because he will never be able to make a difference as there are so many of them.

The reply came back, as he threw another one into the sea: ‘I’ve made a difference to that one…’

Now let’s get stuck into setting those goals.

SMART

Even though the SMART acronym for goal setting originated in the Project Management discipline, it has become more widely used and can be applied to any goal setting scenario.

Last week, I discussed your Roles and Goals, which were based on your purpose defined previously.

Having the Mind Maps you created for your Purpose, Roles and Goals handy would be great. Many of you may have battled to set your Goals for the various roles in your life. This article will therefore focus on how to go about Goal Setting.

What makes my advice different from many other Goal setting advice is the fact that your Roles are included in the big picture.

We are often at different levels of maturity in our various roles. For example, we may be working in a field for many years, yet be a few days or weeks in a new relationship. The way we see our goals in two different roles, is largely dependent our maturity level in the role.

You will therefore have to apply setting SMART Goals to each of the roles that you choose. Each individual will set goals for the roles that they feel need goal setting. At least the Roles and Goals paradigm gives YOU the choice. You decide the roles that need goal setting and the roles that do not.

The Acronym

Before going further, it will be wise for you to grasp the acronym fully. It is simple, so take a few minutes to learn and memorise it.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Tangible

The letter ‘T’, often represents ‘Time’ in many uses of this acronym. The reason for using tangible will be explained later.

Specific

Specific Goals are simply goals that are not vague. The better you describe the goals and the more specific you make it, the better. The following key questions often naturally make the goals specific:

• WHICH: Identify requirements and constraints
• WHEN: Establish a time frame
• WHY: Specific reasons, purpose, or benefits in accomplishing the goal
• WHAT: What do I want to accomplish?
• WHERE: Identify a location
• WHO: Who is involved?

The first thing you have to do is define your goals and choose one to work through. (Which?)

Once you have gone through these questions around your goal, you will know what you want to achieve, why you want to achieve it, by when you want to achieve it who will be involved in helping you achieve your goal.

One of the methods that I normally recommend to record your goals is quite a simple one and especially useful if you don’t use Mind Maps to organise your life.

• Get a diary
• Go to the front of the Diary and write in the Goals and the dates by which you want to achieve them
• Turn to the appropriate page in you diary and write down the goal there as well
• Look at your goals daily, or at least weekly if you can’t manage daily

Measurable

This is based on the management cliche, what you can’t measure, you can’t manage. Define ways YOU think you can measure your progress. It is important that YOU set the measurement criteria. Other people can give input, but you have to define your own standards by which you are going to measure whether you are successful or not. The responsibility is yours.

Some questions you can ask:

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?
• What are the Benchmarks against which I can measure it?
• Are there Milestones that I can set to ensure I am on track?

Attainable

The attainable key word pertains largely to your own growth and development. If your goals are defined well, which the SMART acronym enables you to do, you will find that you will grow as an individual on your path to achieving your goals.

Some important characteristics that determine whether you see the goals as attainable:

• Self-image and belief
• Financial capability
• Abilities
• Skills
• Attitudes

By pushing yourself and growing this type of characteristics, your goals will become more and more attainable. It will also enable you to set bigger and bigger goals.

The statement by Robert Browning: ‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp’, comes to mind, which has commonly been associated with setting goals a bit higher than you can attain comfortably.

The following can help you to understand the reach/grasp meaning and help to visualise it quite nicely:

Do the following exercise (or picture it):

• Stand an arm’s length away from an object, keeping your arm straight out in front of you.
• Ensure that the tips of your fingers are touching the object. That is your reach.
• Now close you hands into a fist, without moving your arm. That is your grasp.
• Does your hand still reach the object?

Physically, our reach is greater than our grasp. Ensure your goals are too.

Realistic

When thinking realistic, two words come to mind: willing and able.

Both are needed to ensure that realistic goals that are attainable are defined. Only you will know whether you are willing to put in the work to achieve the goal or not. Your willingness to work, will determine your ability to achieve the goal. Have another look at my post successful people work harder.

Tangible

I prefer tangible to time bound for this letter of the acronym, as time can be covered in the specific and measurable parts. It can even be covered in the attainable and realistic components, as setting an realistic/unrealistic timeframe has a huge influence on whether the goal is attainable or realistic.

Tangible involves the senses, especially the visualisation component. Many people involve all five senses in the visualisation process. If you can see, feel, touch, taste and hear it, you can achieve it. By making it tangible, you automatically cover the specific, measurable, attainable and realistic components of your goals.

You are now better equipped to define your goals. Look at the goals on the Mind Map you created last week.

Are they SMART enough?

Living on Purpose

Last week’s article, living on purpose, introduced you to big picture thinking of your life. If you always have the big picture in mind, passion, which is a primary ingredient of success, is usually sustainable.

Single-minded focus is undoubtedly the biggest guarantee of success and a Mind Map is the ideal tool to document this focus, as a Mind Map always has a central theme – a single focus.

While having a single purpose and focusing on it, will dramatically increase the chances of you achieving success, does it bring balance into your life?

The need for balance

I believe that having a balance in your life is crucial to sustained happiness, but a balanced life is an apparent contradiction to having a single purpose.

A common complaint quoted in ‘First things First’ by Stephen R. Covey and A. Roger Merrill is:

‘I want to provide for my family and be successful in my career. But my company doesn’t think I’m serious about advancement unless I get to the office early and work late and on weekends.

By the time I get home, I feel exhausted. I have more work to do, and no energy to give to my family. But they need me. There are bikes to fix, stories to read, homework assignments to help with, things to talk over. And I need them. What is quality of life if it isn’t spending time with the people you love most?…’

Does this sound familiar?

Let’s examine how we can remain focused on our main purpose in life and still live a healthy, balanced life.

The Mind Map as a thinking tool

Before we dive right in, I would like to remind you of the Mind Map’s benefits as a thinking tool. It is not for nothing that Tony Buzan, the inventor of the Mind Map, calls it the swiss army knife of the brain.

The Mind Map can be used in many ways as a thinking tool, but one of the ways I often use it, is to Mind Map the big picture and then drill into the details. I use this method to learn something new as well.

Using Mind Maps can be compared to assembling a jigsaw puzzle. You start with the big picture, which you keep visible at all times. From this big picture, you start putting down the pieces you know, one piece at the time, often starting in the centre or one of the corners and building on them.

As you are building your puzzle, it may not look like a cohesive whole, but it is still being built with the big picture in mind. You will see the centre core growing and the corners growing until they start to meet and become one.

Life is often like that. If you only focus on the detail pieces, you lose track of the big picture. If you only focus on the big picture, you don’t do anything. It just exists in your mind, in your imagination.

Putting together Goals for yourself is very similar to building a jigsaw puzzle.

You have to start with the big picture if you want a more fulfilling life. Having the big picture – the purpose - gives you hope and keeps the passion burning. Passion is the one ingredient that is uniquely yours. The amount of passion you put in is often the most determining factor of all.

But passion without direction, often leads to nowhere. It can also consume you and even lead you down the wrong path. You need something else to restore the balance.

What is balance?

One way of looking at our lives is via four dimensions: physical, spiritual, social and mental. I like the concept of using these four dimensions to ensure balance in my life.

The physical dimension requires or creates resources, the spiritual dimension connects to mission, purpose and principles, the social dimension involves relationships with other people, and the mental dimension requires thinking and learning.

By having a long term view of these dimensions, you start building a picture of a well balanced life. Often, to succeed at something, one of these dimensions become the focus for a short period and it appears that your life is not balanced. It is important at this point to look at the big picture again to give perspective. Balance is determined over months and years, not days and weeks.

A very good example of this is having a new baby. I remember when my daughter was born. She was only four months old when my wife and I decided to leave South Africa to go to The Netherlands.

My wife left her job and spent the next three years in a foreign country where her main focus was looking after our daughter. Her life seemed out of balance at the time. She had no friends, no extended family and no job.

If I look back at the last decade of her life though, I get a very different picture.

Her choice at the times was also very difficult because of the way modern society sees motherhood. I share the sentiments of Rebecca A. Merrill, one of the co-authors of the book ‘First things first’:

‘I’m often troubled by the stigma attached to women who choose to focus their time and effort primarily on motherhood. It is as if society somehow deems it less valuable to raise competent children than to raise the profit on a company’s product line.

A woman who chooses to focus on motherhood, and does so out of a clear sense of her own personal vision, becomes truly energized in her role. She recognizes the value of shaping the characters of future leaders in society. And in the process, she develops competence and character to fulfill other roles. Perhaps a second career or another degree are in the plans, but that doesn’t distract from the task at hand. It is not a matter of capacity, but of chosen contribution…’

It is as if this piece was written for Jasmine, my wife. Today she is in a second career and has another degree. She studied a new degree while being a ’stay home mom’ and when she decided to go back to work, she landed not only a new job, but a new career!

Did her period of focused motherhood detract from her success in any way? I think not! If anything, it gave her the character and strength to accomplish greater things. It also gave her a balance of the physical, spiritual, social and mental dimensions.

When looking at balance therefore, one should not have a short term view. If you are starting a new project, a new business or venture, or having a new born baby, your life may seem out of balance as you are focusing so much time on one thing. This focus is of the utmost importance to succeed. It is the people who don’t have the discipline to focus on what they need to do to succeed, that fail.

This imbalance is often short lived though, if you have your Roles and Goals well defined.

Restoring balance – the power of Roles and Goals

We all have to fulfill different roles in life. Knowing the roles that you have to play, and the goals you have for them, will help ensure that you start, and continue, to live a balanced life.

Take some time out and draw a Mind Map with yourself as the central theme. Draw six branches coming out of central theme and list the roles you have to fulfill in your life. An example of roles could be:

• Father/Mother
• Son/Daughter
• Brother/Sister
• Employee (List job function if you want to)
• Business Owner
• Community Service
• Manager
• Etc.

Once you have these roles on your Mind Map, put down three goals for each of them on your Mind Map for the coming year.

Does this bring a new perspective into your life?

Each role must be seen as a stewardship. You have been entrusted in life to fulfill each of these roles. They are your roles. You’ve chosen them. You also choose the goals for each role. Remember, it is YOUR choice.

Each of the roles contain all four dimensions: physical, spiritual, social and mental so ensure that you set goals using these four dimensions as a guide.

As mentioned, sometimes one of the roles needs more focus than the others. This is quite normal. By having a Mind Map picture of your roles and goals, you are able to bring it back on track to ensure that you have a balance.

I’ve added two Mind Map PDF downloads at the end of this for you to print out and use to define your Roles and Goals.

This one year picture of Roles and Goals is a bit more detailed than the Purpose vision of last week, which is a lifetime vision.

Remember the jigsaw puzzle analogy? The purpose is the centre of your jigsaw puzzle and the roles and goals the corners.

Planning – The next step

Your Roles and Goals Mind Map will give you a roadmap, but the journey still needs more detailed planning though and will be covered in a future article. Be sure to look out for it.

Before we get to the detailed planning though, Goal Setting needs to be covered in a bit more detail. That will be the subject for next weeks article.

Click here for a download of the Mind Map PDF guide.

Click here for a blank PDF template.

If you think this will add value to somebody else’s life, pass it on. Paying it forward sometimes takes very little effort, but has huge rewards.

The scene had already been set in previous articles, Your results are a reflection of a year’s work, Passion makes perfect and MindMapTutor guidelines.

I had the idea fixed quite clearly in my mind, as well as the points I wanted to get across to you, the reader. Yet the writing was still difficult, as it became a boring set of instructions, which nobody would read or apply.

I then realised that I was not using my own advice! It was the case of ‘physician, first heal thyself…’

Once I put together a quick Mind Map burst of ideas around the topic, the structure of the article revealed itself and it became apparent that I did not have to write much, as the Mind Map I had created is self explanatory. The PDF download, is in fact a complete worksheet, which you can download and print. You can simply answer the questions on the Mind Map and you will soon realise the extent to which you are ‘living on purpose’.

I then decided that I would rather give you two case studies, which highlight the principles and not write the article at all, as the Mind Map is self explanatory. The one case study relates to business and the other to a much higher cause.

Success in our modern world is often so one dimensional and based solely on money. You may not have the desire to be insanely wealthy, but simply want to make a difference in the world. Whatever you choose is okay. It’s your life and your purpose to live.

A business case

In ‘Think and Grow Rich’, arguably the book that made more millionaires than any other book, Napoleon Hill relates the story of Edward C. Barnes.

Barnes had the unusual desire to become a partner, a business associate, of the greatest inventor of all time, Thomas A. Edison, despite that the fact that he was penniless and looked like a tramp.

He had two major obstacles when he first had the impulse. He did not know Edison and he didn’t have the money to get to Edison’s offices. This would have put off anybody with less desire. Not Barnes!

When he finally arrived at Edison’s offices, he announced that he wanted to go into business with the great inventor.  While he did not get to go into business with Edisons immediately, he did land a menial job at a very nominal wage.

He had to wait five years for his opportunity to come. While everyone else just saw him as another cog in the Edison business wheel, he thought otherwise.

Eventually, opportunity came through the back door, as it so often happens. When Edison invented the Edison dictating machine, his salesmen were not too enthusiastic about the machine, as they believed it could not be sold easily. This was Barnes’s chance. The rest is history. Barnes eventually got the contract to distribute it across the whole country. He was finally a business associate of Edison!

A completely different case

The best selling authors of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ series wrote a book called the Power of Focus. In it, they relay the remarkable story of Terry Fox. When Terry was only 18 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer he had (osteosarcoma) often strikes the legs and arms and sometimes spreads to the lungs, brain or liver.

Terry had two choices: give up hope and wait for death, or discover something meaningful to live for. He chose to live with purpose.

He dreamed of running across Canada and even though one of his legs were amputated, he embarked on his journey. He wanted to raise one million dollars for cancer research. Even though he died at the tender age of 22, he raised $24.6 million during his marathon of hope runs.

With his prosthesis (his leg was amputated above the knee), he ran an equivalent of 3,339 miles in only 143 days (the equivalent of a marathon almost every day) and gave hope to thousands of people all over the world.

The Terry Fox foundation continues to this day (www.terryfox.org) and to date over $400 million has been raised for cancer worldwide in Terry’s name!

Mind Mapping your Purpose

Now, your ideals do not have to be as big and grand as Barnes’s or Terry’s, but you do need to start ‘living on purpose’ and not just coast along.

The Mind Map above illustrates a ten step process to get you to live on purpose.

• It starts with you recognising and utilizing the skills that you are good at.
• It then gets you to align this with your passions and consolidates the principles on which this is based.
• It ends with some practical steps to implement the principles.

PDF download of Mind Map

The PDF download is an expanded version of the Mind Map in the article and contains numerous questions for you to answer. I suggest you print the Mind Map and answer the questions directly on the Mind Map. You will then have a one page overview of your ‘living on purpose’ maturity.

Statement of Purpose

Once you have done the Mind Map worksheet and know where you stand, you can start working on your statement of purpose.

Many companies spend large sums of money on Mission Statements, which hardly anybody remembers and even less apply them. A simple statement of purpose can be easily remembered and easily applied. Create a simple statement of purpose for yourself (keeping it to one simple sentence) and start living it.

I end off with my own one:

To inspire lifelong learning in as many people as I can with methods that are easy to learn, simple to use and produce fast results.

I hope that 2010 becomes the year that you find your purpose in life and the year that you start ‘living on purpose.’

Click here to download PDF Mind Map Worksheet

This week’s article gives you an overview of how information will be delivered on MindMapTutor.com in 2010.

The MindMapTutor

The first major change is the use of what I now call a MindMapTutor.  A MindMapTutor opens with a Mind Map Summary and follows with information based on the Mind Map.

This allows you to Preview the article and get an Overview before you commence with reading. It also serves as a Review after you have read the article.

I suggest that you have a quick look at the Mind Map and then start reading. Once you have read the article, have another look at the Mind Map and try to associate what you have read with the branches on the Mind Map.

The Mind Map provides ‘mental hooks’ for the brain. As you read the article, your brain will naturally associate what you are reading to these hooks. The more you do this, the more your brain will develop whole brain thinking and learning skills.

The Mind Map is not a detailed copy of the article, but serves merely as a ‘mental hook’, which will later serve as a ‘trigger’ for later recall.

PDF Download of Mind Map

A PDF version of the Mind Map will also be attached for you to download so that you can easily save or print the Mind Map. If you want to review the article later, you should simply be able to browse through the Mind Map, making reviews much easier and quicker.

If you do need to revisit the article, you don’t have to read the whole article again. Simply review the items that you have missed using the Mind Map as a guide.

MindMapTutor.com is also fully searchable, so simply search for the article once it has been archived. It is the quickest way to find what you are looking for.

Mind Map Templates

I’ve had numerous requests to provide Mind Map Templates that can be downloaded and modified for personal use.

This will obviously require a lot more work and I am looking at providing a premium membership site for this. I will keep you informed.

Mind Map Software

One of the challenges in providing Mind Map templates, is the availability of Mind Map Software.

It is very difficult to promote Mind Mapping as a Universal Tool, as commercial Mind Mapping Software has not yet reached ‘mainstream’ status. Due to cost and various other reasons, Mind Mapping software has been adopted largely by businesses. As Mind Mapping becomes more popular, I hope the use of Mind Mapping software grows and becomes more affordable and readily available.

Another problem with Mind Mapping software is the tendency for them to ‘lock you in’. The Mind Maps you produce can only be used properly with the software that created it.

The early days of Microsoft Office were like that. Today there are many commercial and Open Source Office packages that can read, edit and save documents in Microsoft Office format. I look forward to the day that Mind Map Software becomes ‘mainstream’, allowing you to read, edit and create Mind Maps that can be used with any Mind Map Software package. It will then be your preference for a particular software package or brand that will determine the tool you use and not driven by the need to read various file formats.

At the moment it looks as if XML can provide that standard, but only time will tell.

Using Xmind

It is for this reason that I’ve chosen to use XMind for all the Mind Map templates I will be creating. I feel that Xmind is better than the FreeMind, the other popular OpenSource Mind Map package.

Xmind has followed a unique model. It provides you with a basic (but comprehensive) version at no cost and charges for an upgraded full featured version. This allows you to get used to Mind Maps and Mind Mapping software before making a decision to buy.

The time provided by the normal ‘30 day trial’ versions is simply too short when starting out with Mind Mapping. Once you are used to working with Mind Mapping software, you will be able to make a decision much easier within the trial period.

With Xmind, you can also export a FreeMind file, which can be imported into most commercial software packages.

Conclusion

You will get a lot more value out of MindMapTutor.com in 2010, based on your feedback and input in 2009. This will continue to be at no cost to you!

A new premium site will be launched, which will provide you with interactive tools, templates, videos and other downloads to enable you to learn faster and easier.

As I’ve quoted Arie de Geus so many times before:

Your ability to learn faster than your competitors may be your only sustainable competitive advantage.

MindMapTutor.com remains dedicated to enable you to do exactly this!